Harrisburg's biggest newspaper, the Patriot/PennLive, has decided to suspend comments.

The U.S. Attorney, Dave Freed (Republican), and the Mayor of Harrisburg, PA Eric Papenfuse (Democrat, pictured above), have weighed in to congratulate the paper. [I applaud PA Media for ending open comments that provided a platform for incivility and mean-spiritness [sic], by Mayor Eric Papenfuse, pennlive.com, January 29, 2020]

Yes, comments leave much to be desired. They are digital graffiti.

But expenditure of labor resources isn't the issue.

Censorship on issues of race is.

Example: A story will recount that in the city of Harrisburg, a youth shot another youth. Race won't be mentioned, but commenters will say things like, "gee, wonder what the race was?"

And it's pretty obvious the commenter DOESN'T wonder "what the race was."

It's been said that the 2016 election was the story versus the comments section.

The comments section won.

The MSM has learned its lesson and is moving to consolidate power.